Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween in Kathmandu

While there are plenty of scary things in Kathmandu (festering garbage heaps, crazy traffic, constant "turd alerts," mangy packs of roaming dogs, etc.), our girls were really worried about missing a "real" Halloween. In fact they had raised this concern waaay back in June or July when we were starting to make packing lists for the trip... We assured them that we'd find some "American" type of event in Kathmandu, so the pressure was ON to deliver! Fortunately we met some US Embassy employees a couple weeks ago during our trek (in Kagbeni of all places...), and asked them about expat life in Kathmandu.... especially Halloween celebrations. Erica and Jason were kind enough to invite us to the exclusive American Club for a spoooky evening of fun.

We worked much of the day to create costumes, visiting local

cloth shops, tailors, and managed to create Dracula and 2 "Dementors." Then we made our way downtown, across the street from the old Royal Palace, to the fortress-like compound. As we approached the heavily guarded security check, metal detectors, and X-ray machine, I suddenly panicked... "Karen, do we need our passports!?!?" Egads what a disaster this would be if

they were required! But we were ON the guest list, and no passports required... phew! Once inside, our girls were pretty pleased to suddenly be surrounded with kids from the US, Europe, and Asia, all decked out in costume. There was a parade, a spooky walk in the dark, a festering witches cauldron with many gross animal parts (quite authentic here!), and trick or treating all around the gated razor-wire compound. We had a yummy dinner, enjoyed the first "real" beer in 2 months

(a Guiness & a Red Hook ESB), and met some really nice American mom's who had organized the whole event. Our girls even got partake in one of the most critical Halloween rituals; sorting, counting, and trading their candy!

We then walked through a clean organized well-striped parking lot with SUV's and shiny cars, and exited through multiple blast walls and security checks back into the streets of Kathmandu.

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Himalayan Homecoming

We're taking our family back to South Asia for a Fall Semester Sabbatical! Ever since our 2007 Fulbright semester in India, we've been saving up and planning for our return. We will enroll our own daughters, and teach at Manasarovar Academy, a charity school in Kathmandu serving children of Tibetan refugee families. Paul was granted unpaid leave from his teaching job, and Karen departed one month early from her... read more!

About Me

Karen lives in the Mountains of California, where she works and lives the life of a Naturalist/Park Ranger in Yosemite National Park. Home is with her husband and 3 daughters, though they all recognize that this good Earth is Home in a larger sense. It is this philosophy that draws Karen to the Himalaya, and the people and birds here are like family. The quest to have more people know the fantastic birds they share this sacred land with is a worthy cause. What happens here, happens to the same Earth. We really are all in this together!